Education, health top priority areas: PM

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani while chairing a meeting at the Ministry of Education on Friday, approved the proposal regarding holding of quarterly meetings of provincial education ministers to ensure better coordination besides avoiding overlapping and duplication of projects. Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani speaking on the occasion said that education and health are the priority areas before the government and every effort would be made by taking all stakeholders on board to achieve the desired objectives in minimum possible time. Achieving universal goal of free primary and secondary education, ensuring gender equality, promoting public-private partnership, establishing more schools in less-developed areas and bringing them at par with other parts of the country while reducing dropout rate are some of the areas, which the ministry should concentrate to work on priority basis, he said. He said that the new education policy should encompass all important ingredients which are essential for making the education system progressive and vibrant that should satisfy the requirements both qualitatively as well as quantitatively. Taking note of numerous complaints about the poor monitoring and inspection system and dismal physical structure of federal government schools in the Capital territory, the prime minister directed the ministry to improve it by ensuring provision of basic facilities to all federal government schools in Islamabad. In this regard, he added, he would undertake surprise visits to the schools to personally evaluate the on-ground situation. The prime minister also directed the Ministry of Education to resolve the issue of National College of Arts regarding acquisition of land for its Islamabad campus as well as expediting the construction of College for Home Economics in Islamabad. Federal Minister for Education, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani in his presentation briefed the meeting about the working of the ministry education and the salient features of the proposed Education Policy. Bijarani later presented a cheque of Rs 2.5 million to the prime minister on behalf of the ministry for PMs special fund for victims of terrorism. He was also informed that 32 truckloads of food and other household items collected by the students and teachers of the Federal Government institutions in Islamabad have already been dispatched for the displaced persons.